Yin Yang: Bravery and Cowardice
by XeroKitty
Summary: Naruto brings Sasuke a cat, halfdead from a massive brawl with a mean, nasty dog, and begs him to help it. Sasuke reflects on bravery and a time when he had it, lost it, and found it again.
1. Bravery

_Brave_

_I can be that, if you want me to be._

_I can be fearless for you:_

_Confident, strong, unyielding._

_Is that what it means to be brave?_

_I could never be like you,_

_Plunging ahead, rarely thinking._

_Sometimes I think you have the devil's luck._

_Running forward_

_Straight as an arrow—_

_You know what you must do_

_With no hesitance of gray_

_Only sharp white_

_And deepest black;_

_That's all it is to you._

_That's bravery, I think._

_The will to do what you have to_

_No matter what, where, when, or why._

_I could say you don't care_

_But that wouldn't be you, would it?_

_So grit your teeth_

_Grin and bear it_

_Carry your sins on your shoulders_

_Hide all your sorrows and pain._

_You can do it;_

_You're brave._


	2. Cowardice

_I'm a coward_

_Scared and lost in a web of uncertainty_

_And like a blanket of doubt, I wrap myself around you_

_And you're a coward too,_

_Tumbling helplessly along_

_Pulled by the current of life_

_Clinging, trembling, afraid;_

_Chicken._

_Flashing eyes, your eyes, cut through shades of gray haze_

_The haze of defining terror._

_You shine a harsh light_

_Making everything so clear._

_I huddle away_

_I'm a coward._

_Your hand is out_

_But I can't take it;_

_Such a coward, so afraid_

_I watch you move away_

_Ever forward, the gray coming toward you and your light forces it back_

_And I'm too scared to follow._

_Small, useless, idiot I am;_

_Call me a coward._


	3. Fear and Trust

Naruto ran in, looking disheveled. "Quick…!" he panted. "Bandages…"

"What have you done to yourself NOW, _dobe_?"

"Screw…" he couldn't even get the second half of the retort out. He doubled over, wheezing: "Long… run…"

"I can tell," Sasuke returned from the bathroom with the first aid kit. When he reached for naruto in an attempt to check him for injuries, the blond thrust a small gray and white cat into his face.

Sasuke twitched, then sneezed.

"Found it… by the river… Chased by a huge dog…"

"I'm allergic to cats, you idiot!"

Naruto pleaded with his eyes, too breathless to escalate the argument vocally. Sasuke growled and studied the creature from as far back as he cloud manage, stifling another sneeze. The cat looked half-dead, and Sasuke opened his mouth to say so, but one look at Naruto's pleading face made him reconsider his words.

"It looks really bad," he answered carefully.

"Come on, Sasuke, help it. Please?"

Sighing, the black-haired man took the mass of fur and instantly felt his palms itching. "Sakura could do this a lot better than I could, you know." Pressing his lips together so as not to say anything to upset his companion, Sasuke worked on nursing the cat's wounds. It had already licked away the majority of the dirt and blood, so all he really had to do was apply healing herbs and bandage it up. Naruto, meanwhile, had managed to catch his breath, and had disappeared momentarily. He returned with a cardboard box and a towel.

"I—"

"No," the other man said flatly.

"Just for tonight!"

"'Just for tonight' somehow turns into 'until it gets better' and then 'until we can find it a new home'. The answer is no."

A pout ensued. Sasuke lost. Again.

They lay the animal on the towel and in the box, where it looked more dead than asleep. Naruto sat on the floor and peered in at it as Sasuke went to go burn his clothes and shower. When he came back, he sat at the opposite side of the room on the living room couch. Naruto made a face at him.

"So, how exactly did it get to be like that?" Sasuke gestured toward the box. A strange look crossed the blond's face, and he scratched one of the scars on his cheeks thoughtfully.

"I was at the river, about to jump in," he explained, "when I hear this huge ruckus. I turn, and there's the cat, shooting out of the bushes, being chased by this big, ugly dog. The cat saw the water, stopped, turned, and when the dog attacked it, it fought right back." He leaned back, his cheeks puffed slightly and his bottom lip sticking out as he remembered. "I don't get it. I mean, it was out-sized, and it could have kept running if it had just jumped into the water."

"Cats hate water."

"Yeah, but they don't like getting the crap beaten out of them either."

"They may prefer it," Sasuke half-grinned.

Naruto rolled his eyes: "I knew it was hopeless trying to talk to you seriously about this."

"You? Serious?"

"_Sasuke!_"

"Relax," he grinned fully at his companion, holding up his hands. "It was just doing what came natural to it."

"I would have kept running."

"Would you?" he lifted an eyebrow. "What if you had Kiba chasing you? We'll use him in the dog's role for all intents and purposes." Naruto snickered. "You come to a place where, if you don't turn and fight, you'll end up facing someone much worse. Like Gatta."

"Ick," the blond man made a face.

"Wouldn't you turn around and try your luck with Kiba?"

"That's different—I know I can kick that dog-boy's ass."

Sasuke shook his head: "You're not understanding. Would you risk fighting Kiba and getting a little scuffed up, or get your ass handed to you by Gatta?"

"I kicked his ass too," Naruto mumbled.

"The _point_, _dobe_!" The other man rolled his eyes. "You'd take one over the other, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did it win?"

"Huh?"

"Did the cat win?"

Naruto blinked. "Yeah. They were fighting for a while before the dog finally had enough and ran. But the cat…" he looked into the box, "…it was so thrashed. I thought it was dead."

"Brave little thing."

"Brave? I call that stupid."

"Well, what do you think bravery is?"

Naruto considered.

"…do you remember our first big mission when we were kids? Haku had us trapped in the ice mirrors and you…" his voice trailed off and his blue eyes darkened. "That was brave."

"I actually thought it was quite stupid," Sasuke smiled

"I agree with you on that," Naruto shot him a glare. "But I thought it was brave anyway."

"Why?"

"You took a deathblow for me, Sasuke. With no hesitation. And I could have killed you myself if I didn't already…"

"Think I was dead," the other man finished. The blond flinched.

"I honestly don't know what I would have done in your situation. I could never do anything like that, I think. I'd be too scared to move."

"I was," Sasuke admitted. "For a second, I didn't know what to do. I was so afraid I was going to lose you; so afraid I could never live with myself because I had let you die. So, I jumped."

"Because you were scared?"

"I think bravery can't exist without fear," the black-haired man reasoned. "Fear of water drove the cat to defend itself. When Sakura cut all of her hair off, fear of failing us helped her to make that choice. And the fear of seeing you hurt made me take that hit for you."

"So, in order to be brave, you have to be scared?" Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "I'm scared all the time, but they call me a coward."

"I don't think you're a coward."

"Why not? Everyone else does; hell, _I_ do."

Sasuke got up and walked over to him, highly aware that his nose was beginning to itch. He crouched in front of Naruto and took his hands, looking into his blue eyes.

"Now it's my turn to ask you: do you remember when I left?"

The other man instantly dropped his eyes. "Yes."

"I can't imagine," Sasuke used one hand to gently force the blue orbs back to his, "the kind of courage you had to call upon to let me walk away that day; not knowing if I'd ever come back or if I'd die."

"I knew I couldn't stop you, so I just had to let you go and trust that you'd come back."

"And you did," he pushed back the blond locks and kissed his forehead. "It was a brave thing, Naruto. You didn't know a lot of things—including how I felt."

"So, I am brave?"

"You have your moments."

"Argh!"

"Let's put some food out for this cat of yours," Sasuke stood. "And you need to go take a shower."

"Why?" Naruto looked puzzled.

"Because you're not sleeping next to me, reeking of cat."

"I do NOT smell!"

"Are you kidding? I'll be up all night sneezing. Go."

"Can we keep the cat?"

"Shower!"

"I'm going!"

The next morning, the cat was gone.

"It must have jumped out of the window," Sasuke concluded, tracing the faint hints of chakra to the ledge.

"At least it ate before it ran," Naruto carried the empty bowl back to the kitchen to wash.

"I'm throwing away this box… and this towel," the black-haired man picked up the aforementioned items and walked to the door.

"The cat… it did a brave thing."

"What?" he paused, standing half in and half out of the doorway.

"Instead of making its home here, it went back to the streets; leaving everything to chance and not settling for the easy life."

Sasuke smiled. "Bravery influenced by stupidity."

"What's that supposed to mean? Hey! Are you insinuating something? Sasuke!" Naruto yelled after him as he walked around the house to the trash cans in the back.

"That cat is just like I was," he mused aloud. "Stupid enough to leave your presence." He walked back around. "At least I was strong enough to come home."

Naruto was waiting for him at the door.


End file.
